Crown of Death
	Area:	Loop Vaults
	Pro:	Bigger Explosions
	Con:	-1 Max HP

Sprites:
Selection	Idle	Walk

Tech

• Some explosion types will gain more mini explosions around them, increasing DPS.
• Every individual normal and green explosion will gain 3 mini explosions around them, covering a wider radius.
• Enemies and props that use these will gain bigger explosions as well.
• Weapons that use mini explosions will gain one more mini explosive per shot.
• Mini explosions do the same damage as normal explosions, just with a smaller radius.
• Normal/mini explosions do 5 damage a frame for 10 damage total each, and ignore enemy/player iframes. (Unless running Boiling Veins)
• IDPD explosions are not effected by this crown, and neither is Rogue's portal strike or blast armor.
• Blood explosives are also not effected; these include blood weapons, Melting's active and Plant's Killer ultra.
• Other explosive weapons that do not use explosions are also not effected, such as Jackhammer or Flame weapons.
• Once the player dies a giant explosion will emit from the mutant, covering the majority of the screen.
• Only for true deaths, Chicken going headless does not count.
• Any enemies killed within this radius are added to the kill counter post-death. However, post-death kills do not contribute to daily/weekly leaderboard scores.
• -1 Max HP
• This will also remove 1 current HP from the player if they are at full health, to match their new max.
• Taking Crown of Death off will return the 1 max HP, but not heal the player for 1 current HP.
• If Melting is at 1 max HP (Detachment) this will set him to 1/0 HP.
• This will cause him to die upon taking any damage or healing, as it sets his health to 0/0.
• If Chicken is at 1 max HP left, the crown will simply make her headless and kill her if no health chest is collected in time.
• (Link Skeleton page later)

Strategy Guide

Crown of Death's additional explosions gives a direct damage upgrade to all explosive weapons, as well as letting them have a bit more area coverage. This makes Death a phenomenal crown pick if planning on running an explosive build, as it just makes the weapons even better.

There are technically two downsides to this crown. One less max health is a smaller downside that is easier to work around, however larger explosions can also harm the player along with also applying to enemy explosions. For this reason Boiling Veins should be considered a high priority mutation, because avoiding any explosions can be particularly difficult.

One should be familiar with each explosive weapon tech, to understand how much extra damage potential each weapon gets. For example as normal explosions gain 3 more mini explosions around them, that's up to 30 more damage potential per shot. (Although 20 more damage to a single target is more realistic, as the mini explosions are usually spread out).

For preloop runs, such as for weeklies, running Death makes most explosion weapons viable for many more areas than they would otherwise. For example Grenade Launcher can deal up to 25 damage normally (15 impact + 10 explosive), but with 3 more mini explosions one can expect to deal 45-55 damage a hit, which roughly doubles the amount of damage it can do. Until Boiling Veins is taken the player should take a more ranged approach where they can, as explosion sizes can be a bit more unpredictable. Scrapyards, Frozen City and Labs are particularly prone to explosion damage from prop/enemies, so stay on high alert here.

During loop play, explosive weapon builds are completely optional as it's very easy to self damage due to the high volume of enemies. If just trying to unlock the crown or going as far as possible on a weekly, then standard weapons are suitable here. If wanting to lean into explosive builds there are many good choices that benefit strongly from Crown of Death;

• Hyper Launcher: Great at single target damage such as with Elite IDPD.
• Super Bazooka: Concentrated damage that can be devastating if most missiles hit, great for boss fights.
• Nuke Launcher: Very high area coverage with a controllable projectile, making it fit many situations decently well.
• Ultra Grenade Launcher: Sucking in enemies make it prime for crowd control with strong damage output.

One issue with running explosive weapons is there is a lack of ammo, particularly for the Hyper Launcher/Super Bazooka. Ammo drops only give +6 explosives, the least of any ammo type. One option could be to run dual explosives with Jackhammer for defense, as ammo drops are guaranteed to be explosive while running the same weapon types. Be careful if running it with Ultra Grenade Launcher, as Jackhammer can pierce grenade projectiles and can detonate right in the players face.

For meta play (loops 3+), the viability of explosive weapons largely fall off due to the higher concentration of enemies that become unmanageable. For this reason most meta players opt to just run standard meta and treat this as a normal run. Boiling Veins is still recommended for Death runs, but may not be outright necessary if there is a much better mutation pick from the same set. The main difference in gameplay is just enemy explosives, so pushing a bit slower is enough to play it safe. IDPD explosions are the same size, so do not pose any more threat than usual.

Character/Mutation Notes:

• Boiling Veins is a high priority mutation for survival.
• As self-damage is inevitable, Stress is a strong mutation pick as it can be more frequently useful.
• Healing mutations such as Bloodlust are recommended to quickly build health back up.
• Melting suffers the most from the max HP loss as at 1 max HP, he cannot recharge Strong Spirit. Rhino Skin is a top priority mutation.